How casinos can change a community

Sunday

Dec 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMDec 30, 2007 at 4:49 AM

This is hardly the eastern Connecticut of 20 years ago or even a decade ago. Just as the state's two tribal casinos have continued to grow so has the ripple they've caused throughout the region. Now, the question isn't whether Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun have affected the state - it is how much?

Erica Jacobson, GateHouse News Service

Schools with booming English language learner programs for the children of casino workers. A complete division of the Connecticut State Police devoted to casino issues. Social service groups, schools and businesses left scrambling to hire bilingual workers fluent in English, Chinese, Haitian Creole and Spanish, as well as a number of other languages.

This is hardly the eastern Connecticut of 20 years ago or even a decade ago. Just as the state's two tribal casinos have continued to grow so has the ripple they've caused throughout the region. Now, the question isn't whether Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun have affected the state - it is how much?

The region's social service, education and health care sector has seen the largest distinct economic change since the arrival of Connecticut's casinos, according to a report compiled earlier this year for a Native American Economic Impact Summit.

As determined by the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, the casinos were responsible for an estimated $9.7 million in wages in those areas last year.

Only one other category - government and "all other" combined - saw a larger trickle-down effect from the casinos with an additional $12.4 million in wages in 2006.

The growth at Connecticut's two American Indian-run casinos has been so explosive and expansive it has, at times, left analysts struggling to make sense of the dollars and cents generated by the presence of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

In the last nine years, David B. Erwin said he has seen certain programs at the Montville public schools, where he is superintendent, grow as the children of casino workers enrolled.

"When I came here in 1999," he said, "we had five English language learners."

Now, Erwin said, the number is more than 115 and, in the ensuing years, the district has hired an ELL coordinator as well as tutors to help Chinese-speaking students and do other such work as translate documents, including snow day signs to post at the schools.

But growth has brought the need to reshuffle funds.

"It also necessitated us using some grant money to make sure we have tutors," Erwin said.

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